The Da Vinci Code - (Ron Howard) - movie

Haven't seen a movie with such a controversial bite since "The Last Temptation of Christ" I watched this one the Tuesday after the opening weekend. First let me share my reasons for seeing the movie

1. Tom Hanks: my favourite actor
2. Ron Howard: my favourite director
3. Paul Bettany: another admired actor
4. People are talking about it and I want to know what they are talking about


Let's talk about the performance. Tom Hanks was alright in his role. I've been wowed by other performances in "Philadelphia" and "Cast Away", so this one isn't that dynamic. It wasn't as diverse as his role in "Forest Gump", so not exactly an Oscar winner in my opinion. I do like how he puts himself as an actor into his roles. I laughed a couple lines that I remember from one of my favourite flicks - "You've Got Mail".

Paul Bettany I've seen in "Beautiful Mind" and "Master and Commander" Both were stellar performances as he teamed up with Russell Crowe. He takes his characters above and beyond the imagination of the viewer. There was a passion in Silas that he played very intensely. I've not seen him in a leading roll, but as a support actor he compliments the story line very well and is very entertaining to watch.

My all time favourite Ron Howard movie was "A Beautiful Mind" I saw a lot of similarities with Da Vinci Code. A good director will put himself in the movie, sometimes so subtly that you really have to look for it. I like the imagery in "The Da Vinci Code". Those little things the audience often misses, but the director puts in to add the spice. There is a special emphasis on the artwork in this movie. One of my favourite scene's is the opening run though the museum. It was like every painting was telling a story of importance.

I went to see the movie with two things in mind. It's fiction (not an adequate picture of scriptural truth) and the Last Supper painting is an artist's impression, not a snap shot of the actual event. Leonardo Da Vinci wasn't there. Ron Howard wasn't there. Jesus was there and he's left his shapshot of the events through the eyewitness of scripture.

I don't go to movies like this to get anything spiritural out of it. But when people at work are talking about it, I want to know what they are talking about. I want to be able to share Jesus in my workplace, and when something like this movie comes into the forefront of converstion, I want to know what I'm up against. Yes, some people's perspective of Christ and Christianity will get skewed from this interpretation, but that is an opportunity to point them to the source of truth.

Movies that are based on a fictional account of the story of Christ, don't tend to focus on the resurrection. They mention the death of Christ and stop there. The wonderful truth of Christianity is not that our leader died... but that he defeated death. That is the big story and on so often missed in these artistic impressions we call blockbusters.